Taiwan’s housing price index grew 1.82 percent to 133.18 in the third quarter of last year, when mortgage burdens picked up 0.16 percent from the second quarter to 42.25 percent of average household income, indicating that housing unaffordability sharpened, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday.
The reading represented a 5.42 percent hike compared with a year earlier, although the pace eased slightly for five consecutive quarters, the ministry found.
Overall, the house price-to-income ratio climbed to 9.82 times the average of household income nationwide, also a new high.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
The trend ran counter to joint efforts by policymakers to facilitate a soft landing for house prices, as housing unaffordability has long topped the public’s complaint, especially among young people.
Solid real demand and building material price hikes lent support to home prices, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
The government’s introduction in August last year of interest rate subsidies for first-home purchases put an end to a year-long slowdown caused by unfavorable measures and monetary tightening, Tseng said.
Meanwhile, housing transactions totaled 79,812 units nationwide from July to September, rising 6.91 percent from three months earlier and 9.14 percent from a year earlier, affirming a recovery, the ministry’s Web site showed.
The mortgage burden was highest at 67.13 percent in Taipei, where house prices spiked to 15.67 times household income, it showed.
The mortgage burden in New Taipei City stood at 55.35 percent, after house prices increased to 12.92 times household income, the ministry said.
The government deems mortgage burdens of 30 percent as reasonable, 30 to 40 percent as relatively high, and more than 50 percent as overly high.
Affordability in Taichung joined the “ultra-low” category as house prices constituted 11.74 times household income and the mortgage burden grew to 50.32 percent, it said.
Developers have in recent years introduced new luxury apartment complexes in Taichung to take advantage of its metro system and other improving infrastructure facilities.
Affordability in Tainan and Kaohsiung was relatively low, with mortgage burdens standing at 40.67 percent and 39.74 percent respectively after house prices climbed to 9.49 times and 9.27 times household income, the ministry said.
Mortgage burdens were also high in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Taitung, Hualien and Yilan, in addition to the outlying counties of Penghu and Kinmen, it said.
By contrast, affordability was reasonable in Keelung, as well as in Pingtung and Chiayi counties, it said.
Supply and demand would dominate the housing market’s direction after political uncertainty linked to the presidential election settled, Sinyi said.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan